On March 9, at this year’s Xavier Traditions Day assembly, the theme of “lifelong friends” was highlighted by all speakers. Xavier students and staff listened with awe as alumnae from classes as far back as 1960 spoke about Xavier during their times and what an impact the school had on their lives. 

Students and staff had the opportunity to keep Xavier’s Traditions Day alive even with the ongoing pandemic. The assembly was held in the Performing Arts Center this year, giving seniors the chance to watch it live while the rest of the school watched virtually in homerooms.

 Viewers enjoyed various speeches and watched a video highlighting all of the different Xavier traditions from past and present years. Additionally, members of Xavier Performance Dance performed a beautiful routine. 

Traditions week is held every year in March and students and staff participate in activities to celebrate Xavier’s long-lasting history. During one of those days, Traditions Day, there is an assembly that recognizes the cultural value of Xavier and some of its incredible alumnae. 

 Outstanding alumnae are invited to share what their high school experiences were like during their times at Xavier. Listeners are able to grasp an idea of what Xavier used to be in contrast to now as they hear different stories regarding uniforms, social events, rules and the faculty. This year, many of the speakers touched upon the special friendships that they made at Xavier and how much the connections positively impacted them in the future.

Two of these alumnae received the Women of Tradition award. These awards are given to women for their outstanding dedication and unique service to the school. 

In addition, awards are given out to notable faculty. This year, the teachers and staff who received awards of recognition were Catherine Wyman, Bryce Wyman, Erika Peinado, Cara Gillem, Marina Grubisic and Denise Macrina. 

It is also tradition for odd-numbered years (team white) to battle school spirit with even-numbered years (team blue) by wearing their indicated colors in hopes of earning points for their teams. For the second year in a row, seniors and sophomores took home the trophy for team white.

Traditions Day is run by the President’s Council, which is a group of student leaders and moderators. Senior Jojo Reid said, “The President’s Council has contributed the real ideas of Xavier students for Traditions Day events allowing us as students to continue to create traditions. Traditions Day has allowed us to create events to bring the Xavier community together through our common denominator.”

The leadership of Traditions Day worked hard to keep the excitement of this week alive. They created new ways of keeping the school engaged by using kahoots, puzzles and gathering opinions from students about their favorite Xavier traditions. The creativity of new ideas as well as keeping some of the old traditions alive was implemented in hopes of inclusivity to both online and in-person students. 

“Everything is challenging and while it is so much more fun when we can be physically present, it is nice to find new avenues for keeping our traditions alive,” said junior English teacher Elizabeth Galbreath.  She also noted that the speakers were “fun and feisty” and “loved the way the video used the music from ‘Fiddler on the Roof.'”

Counselor and President’s Council moderator Anna Panagiotakopolous said, “It is important to keep this day alive even during Covid because there are so many great things to remember about Xavier, the community we’ve built and the future. The current student body, alumnae who come back to talk and their families, all give us a really good indicator of the neverending support from XCP.”